Terminal assembly for electric-cell batteries



Sept. 23, 1952 SON 2,611,794

TERMINAL ASSEMBLY FOR ELECTRIC-CELL BATTERIES Filed June-26, 1950 ag g Patented Sept. 23, 1952 TERMINAL ASSEMBLY EOR; ELECIRIGfiELL.

, BATTERIES Jack Ii; Peterson, 'Freeport; ,Ill.-, ;assignor-tc Burgess Battery Company; Freeportlllgfa-corporationaofifielaware Asrliai n Sarah: 5 359.

This 'inventionrelates to electric-cell batteries, I

cells assembled in a suitablecompactorder and a, electrically connected to furnishthe desired electrical characteristics at the battery terminal. It is general practice to dip or'otherwise coat the cell assemblywith alayer of inert moistureimpervious 'material, such as microcrystalline wax, to prevent drying of 'the contents of the cells 7 and assist in, preventing leakage of the cell fluids, The coating; is most conveniently applied as an overall envelope. so; that special procedures; must be employedso that uncoated terminals are available for theelectrical connection of the battery with an external circuit.-

While this maybe done byremoving the coating from terminals-assembled with the cells before application cat-the c oa-ting it is generally more convenient and less expensive to apply the protectivecoating to a sub-assembly lacking the final terminals and applying the uncoated terminalsas a further step in the manufacturing process.

It is" arr-object of the present invention to proride-a novel battery terminal construction which combines simplicity and minimum assembly labor cost with" certainty of electrical contact. A further; object is'to'provi'de a novel assembly and manufacturing; methodwhereby the coating is removed "ir0m the battery sub-assembly terminals, electrical contact between these terminals and "the battery terminal 'ispositively. established and the battery. terminals :are afixed to the battery. assembly, all in a single operation. Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds. Inthe accompanying drawing, v Fig. l is a perspective View of'adrybattery equipped with the terminal assembly of the-invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective detail view showing the inner. clip of the terminal assembly- Fig.3:is aperspective view of the batteryterminal plate; I

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of an alternative form of innerclip';

Fig, 5is a partial sectional view of-a terminal assembly taken at the top surface-ofthe battery terminal 'plate andemploying the clip of Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a partial sectional viewsimilarto that of Fig. 5 and illustrating-a further modified form of clip structure; 1

Fig. '7 isa top detail-view-ofthe terminal as- 'sembly showing a further modification;

Big, 8 j is a detailed sectional View ftalgerr 'atithe 11e8- f iaf Big. 9is a perspective; detailvi'ew cfjtheas semblyoi'figs. '7 andJBQa'nd ig- 0 mart a -pl n w'f ia u ihtromodifiedform oftermina-l plate. I a

The battery illustratedin Fig. 11s the finished article to'which an outer carton may be applied, f; e ed is, t r may. spa is i. ai X.- ample, ofstack of "individual flati cells forming the body orcell'block i' o f 'the product. 4- sheet metal clip. t; isplaced atea chendfoigthe cell block I being electrically connected by any suit-- able means, not shown-, totheterminal of the adjacent end cellandheld'in position-bye; tape 3 which also, serves to hold; the c'el lblock together. This; subeassembly may-then have its sides covered-by a: wrapping of an inertfilm material and, whether; ornotsuch a wrappingis employei thisentire subfassembly; including terminal clips 2 iscoated with a'thin layer of microcrystalline wax or other suitable moisture;impervious coating materia-l Thissealing coatmay be applied by dipp-ing;the sub-assembly ina bath of melted wax or by spraying or painting the sub-assembly with the coatingmaterial; "The dipping process is generallypreferred 1 forthifs purpose because were greater assurance of 'complete coverage which is 'essential 1 Battery terminal plates- 4-'- are provided with a raisedeentral portion 5; hav-ing a holefi and boss I at" a central location thereon for good= contact withtheterminals of anexternal-circuit: As shown moreclearly-in- Big; 3, terminalplatef l is provided with two parallel slots 3, one on'either side of the raised portion 5 of the terminal'gplat. The plate may be formed fromsheet copper, brass; or other suitable; metal, andjis not wait coated, v 7 Y A P f a i a snumhed and formed'inclip B; these tabs-being parallel and spacecl'apartthe same distanceasslotsfB of terminal plate 4-; Prior to'the'application of tlre final terminal plates, tabs 9 project optwardly fromclip 2', being substantially perpendicular. thereto; and are coated wit h V the material used to seal-coat cell block; I as" a result of the dip ping orother coatingbperation of the sub-as,- sembly including the clips. Clips 2 may bedabfricated from copper, brass, or other suitable sheet stock. Electrical contactbetween clips 2 an d terminal plate 4: is; establishedby e n g agement of; tabs 9 w h" h m n l'r tr c u al parties l' Fh 516W Bio the minlelinla isplaced'in position uponclip z'withtabs-v 9 projecting through the slots, the wax coating upon tabs 9 is removed by scraping or wire brushing or by means of a suitable solvent. The steps of wax removal and application of the terminal plate, in accordance with the present invention, may be combined by closely dimensioning slots 8 so that as the plate is forced upon tabs 9, the wax coatings are removed by the scraping action of the edges of slots 8. When plates 4 are seated upon clips 2, tabs 9 are bent over upon the outer surface of the terminal plates to lock the latter firmly in position upon the sub-assembly.

In order to insure positive and permanent electrical contact between terminal plates 4 and clips 2, tabs 5, or at least the base portions thereof, may be knurled as shown at H] in Fig. 4. This expedient permits greater tolerances in the dimensions of slots 8 for the reason that the knurling increases the overall thickness of the tabs at the spaced peaks, as shown more clearly in the sectional view of Fig. 5, and the terminal plate may be pressed into position with the several peaks actually cutting into the edges of slots 8. Preferably, the width of slots 8 is slightly greater than the knurled lower portions of the tabs are reached by the plate. The knurling pattern employed ,may have any characteristics so long as at least one peakor protuberance is provided which will make clean and positive metal-to-metal contact for electrical connection purposes. Wax or other coating material upon tabs 9 is scraped off by the edges of slots 8 as terminal plate 4 is pressed upon the inner terminal clip 2. Thin films of wax H may remain between slot edges and portions of the surfaces of tabs 9, but these areas are not relied upon for electrical contact and the insulating wax in such locations does no harm.

It will be appreciated that means other than knurling may be employed with similar results. Any distortion of the metal at the base portion of tabs 9 which elevates some areas above the plane of the normal surfaces of the tabs will accomplish the desired result. For example, the base portions of the tabs may be corrugated, as shown in Fig. 6, the peaks of the corrugations on both sides,

trical contact is illustrated in Figs. 7, 8, and 9. In this form of the invention, the side edges of tabs 9 are tapered to converge from the base towards the free extremities of the tabs and the length of slots 8 is somewhat less than the width of the tabs at their bases with the result that as the terminal plates are forced upon the tabs, the end edges of slots 8 first scrape the side edges of the tabs clean of coating wax and are then torn or forced upwardly out of the plane of the clip as shown at 13. This results in pressure contact between the end edges of slots -8 and the edges of tabs 9 so that while wax layer l4 (Fig. 8) insu-- lates clips 2 from plates 4, positive and permanentelectrical contact is made at Hi.

.If still further assurance of unfailin electrical connection is desired, the sides of slots 8 as Well asthe ends may be provided with small cantilever leaf spring dogs 15 projecting out into the slot area as shown in Fig. 10. These spring dogs are formed as an integral part of plate 4. With tabs having base potion thicknesses greater than the distance between the free ends of spring dogs IE but less than the width of slot 8, and having base portion widths greater than the lengths of slots 8 between the ends of the spring dogs provided at the end of the slots, the ends of the leaf spring dogs will scrape the tab surfaces clean and grip them securely when the terminal plates are forced upon the tabs. If desired, shorter tabs may be employed where the spring elements are used for mechanical and electrical contact since the springs themselves serve as dogs to prevent outward movement of the terminal plates and it is not necessary to bend the tabs over to hold the plates in position.

The terminal assemblies herein described are examples of particular forms of the invention which will readily suggest other equivalent forms. They may be employed on either or both ends of batteries and may be used whether or not the moisture-impervious coating is used to seal the cell sub-assembly. Although particularly described in connection with dry batteries, the terminal assembly of the invention may be used with any kind of electric battery.

Invention is claimed as follows:

1. In a method for making a battery comprising one or more electric cells, the combination of steps consisting of electrically attaching to said cells a metal terminal clip having a tab project ing outwardly therefrom to form a sub-assembly, dipping said sub-assembly in a bath of liquid impervious electrically non-conductive material to form an overall coating thereon includin said tab, and thereafter forcing a metal terminal plate with a registering opening upon said tab, said tab and opening being of such fit that at least a portion of said coating will be scraped from said tab to provide positive electrical contact with said plate.

2. In an electric cell battery, a terminal assembly including a clip of sheet metal attached to and electrically connected with the cells of said battery, said clip having a tab projecting outwardly therefrom, that improvement therein comprising a moisture impervious electrically non-conductive continuous coating covering said cells and extending over said clip including said tab, and a metallic terminal plate overlying said clip and coating, said plate having a narrow slot therein snugly passing the tab therethrough in frictional engagement with an edge thereof, whereby at least a portion of said coating is scraped from said tab during assembly.

3. 'The structure of claim 2 wherein the tab is bent over upon the outer surface of said plate in final assembly.

4. The structure of claim 2 wherein the overall cross-sectional area of the tab converges from the base toward the free extremity thereof and the over-all cross-sectional area of said tab at its base is greater than the initial area of the slot in said plate whereby to enhance the scraping action.

5. The structure of claim 2 wherein a face of the tab adjacent its base is provided with a series of spaced apart projections which engage an edge of the slot to enhance the scraping action.

6. The structure of claim 2 wherein a face of the tab at at least its base portion is knurled to provide a series of sharp projections, the tab being of greater thickness over-all through said projections than the width of the slot whereby REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

6 UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Number Name Date Friedman Jan. 24, 1950 Reinhardt Aug. 15, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Country I Date Switzerland Apr. 16, 1925 Great Britain Mar. 3, 1932 Germany Feb. 1, 1930 France Mar. 14, 1950 

